PABLO, MONTANA 59855 ISSN: 0528-8592
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Graduations
Both of the Tribes' schools -- Two Eagle River School and the Salish Kootenai Community College - are planning to have commencement exercises during the next few weeks.
The first one is Two Eagle's, scheduled for the afternoon of May 29 at the Dixon Agency gym. The ceremony begins at 2:30, followed by a dinner at 4:00 and a two-hour pow-wow at 5:00.
Next comes the College's on Saturday, June 6. Festivities will take place beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Kicking Horse Job Corps Center. A dinner and powwow are planned in addition to the awarding of diplomas.
Everyone is encouraged to attend these events and extend their good wishes to all our successful students this year.
Intent clarified
Poison Councilman E.W. Morigeau requests clarification of his April 24 action concerning Tribal-state talks regarding "jurisdiction for management of water":
"Motion by E.W. Morigeau to make it known that the Tribes are not willing to talk to the State about water rights. Seconded by Bearhead Swaney. Carried."
A note received from Morigeau several days later said:
"The Council did not take action to (Continued on paqe 2)
The name Char-Koosta is derived from the names of the most famous of the two tribes' hereditary chiefs, Chief Chario of the Salish, and Chief Koostata of the Kootenai. These two men were pioneers in forming the confederation.
CHAR-KOOSTA
PUBLISHED BY CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES
VOLUM E K NUMBER!
MAY IS, 1981
Vol ¡I
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NEW MOON OF THE BITTERR00T
Council highlights...
Lawyers to finalize bathhouse agreement
The Hot Springs Bathhouse came that much closer to opening its doors this summer when the Tribal Council voted May 8 to allow the two interested parties' attorneys to work together on the finer details of a five-year lease.
Terms of the lease include letting the community of Hot Springs have "a free hand" in running the place and making whatever improvements are necessary to make the business successful. Any profits realized, for the first five years anyway, will be turned back into the business.
While attorneys Evelyn Stevenson and Rich Gebhardt work out the "nitty gritty", organizers in Hot Springs will be setting up a corporation - necessary to obtain certain types of funding - and be preparing to sell stock to raise money
for the facility's upgrading.
Future plans call for a swimming pool and maybe a restaurant and golf course later.
George Plummer, who is expected to be named manager, assured the Council that tribal members 55 years and older will continue to receive free baths while other tribal members will receive a discount rate, provided they have a tribal "I.D." card. (Those cards are available from the Tribes' Law and Order department in Pablo.) No firm opening date has been set.
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In other business May 8, the Council voted (for perhaps the fourth time) to ground all councilmen not turning in trip reports for off-the-rez travel.
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'A real crisis exists': Homemaker Program in trouble
The Homemaker Program -- where eligible elders or disabled persons receive help enabling them to be relatively independent in their own homes - was due to expire May 15. Thanks to the efforts of several dozen people May 8, the program received a reprieve pending further review.
Those several dozen people included some 50 elders and their homemakers who filled the Council Chambers in Pablo last week in an effort to keep the program going. On the hot seat was BIA's Billings Area Director, Anson Baker, the fellow who ultimately controls the checkbook.
The problem, according to spokesman Evelyn Stevenson, tribal attorney, is "if you're getting welfare of some sort, you're not eligible for General Assistance (GA)". So states BIA's social services regulations and un-
fortunately, the Homemaker Program is a component of GA.
On first impression, Stevenson explained, those regulations seem to help avoid the problem of welfare sponging. On the other hand, those rules serve to deny Indian elders the "equal protection and rights" they're entitled to under federal and state law. Those laws say homemaker services should be made a-vailable according to need, not income.
Underlying everything is the fact that BIA was able to peaceably provide homemaker services for 15 years while they had control of social services, but as soon as the Tribes contracted, hassles cropped up including a sudden funding ceiling.
The bottom line, Stevenson told the area director, was that "some of the
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